Congratulations! We made it. Another Las Vegas Phish run is in the books and with its successful conclusion, Fall Tour 2018 draws to a close. Is everybody ready to be spoon fed some perception? Long time readers of my recaps will know to either bail out now or start limbering up your fingers so they are ready to tap out some “Shade” about how you don’t want to know what I think about while listening to Phish work their magic, because you are just here to find out what happened during the show. In the simplest terms possible THEY CRUSHED IT...again...have a nice day!

For those of you who clicked through to the rest of my ramble, this show, like this tour, has a lot to unpack. Do that at your leisure. Listen repeatedly. All I ask is that you pay attention. Don’t believe your preconceived notions and just try to hear the notes they aren’t playing. A lot of what used to matter (song selection, placement, flow, depth and breadth of jams, frequency and severity of flubs) is now irrelevant. For the first time in a long time, I can say with unequivocal certainty, Phish is BACK! Every song played, whether you like it or not, has at least one bite of deliciousness to savor. So let’s dig in to our final plate from the buffet.

The "Moma Dance" opener is patient and precise with the cocksure swagger of all the fourth day funkateers parading through the Harrah’s Party Pit. "Kill Devil Falls" may be a bit wobbly at the outset but pulls itself together nicely before dropping into a splashtastic butterfly stroke in the deep end of the shark tank. "Roggae" establishes a seemingly ponderous pace, but that lattice of interminable seconds is then absolutely spray painted with a firehose of fluorescent brilliance for a solid 45 seconds. That may not seem like a long time, but try standing in front of a 5,000 PSI pressure washer for that long. You’ll be somewhere in Arizona before you regain consciousness.

"Water in the Sky" offers some great stickwork and a fast crank player piano if that’s your thing. The "555" is sung really well and is sufficiently menacing without veering into meanness. You were probably making a bathroom/beer/water run though...and that's OK too. Then came "Tube"...and oh man, does this one come hard. A space disco swirl that unpacks into a soaring revivalist elegy completely devoid of the dirty groove from which it was spawned. It is SO nice to live in a world where this song can once again go places...and in the first set no less. Switching gears seamlessly we are dumped back into the song proper and raunch and roll to completion.

Intermission is of course a time to refuel. I’ll spare you the recipe, but I got down on a bacon-wrapped tuna and radish kimchi roll with wasabi mayo. Pretty bomb Phish log I must say.

Set two muscles out of the break with a particularly virile “Carini” leading the way. A foreboding evil this way comes. So nasty. “Death Don’t Hurt Very Long” indeed...but it is pretty fucking scary sometimes. “46 Days” seems exuberant and joyous by comparison to the preceding dark dankness. I LOVE the Faceplant influences that pervade the current Phish sound. Can’t stop listening to 10/31/18 set two. When I finally do, I will go back through the entire fall tour and relive the glory that was staring us in the face the whole time as we built toward that moment. Or I could just stop yapping and listen to THIS jam. Entirely type 1...but just crushing skulls, YAAAAAA get some! The transitional spacebience into “Scents and Subtle Sounds” is far too brief and the intro is trashed but who cares? The trail of treasure that follows the lyrical dreck is pleasingly ornate, undulating without spasticity, outside the box yet restrained, buzzed and beautiful.

"Crosseyed and Painless" has been a heavy hitter for a while now. Very reliable in the meat of the order. A slugger with speed on the basepaths. This song is the embodiment of self-determination. It has incredible drive. While it plays you can be anything you want to be for as long as you want to be. Unfortunately The Boys thought we were spending too much time in that place and beset by the seagulls from "Echoes" we dissolve into the disco groove of "2001" to see what that space smells like. Burning hydrocarbons, sulfurous metal, and seared meat mostly. No wait...that’s a "Possum" road patty...not space. I love this song, Go on and get your down on it. I’ll wait.

Yeah, sure...you thought I’d dismiss the encore. But I’m not that type of guy. Much like the preceding version of “Melt,” the chilly, ankle deep wash of “Velvet Sea” always makes me think of Coventry. Man, that time is so far in the past now. Where there was certain death, there is now nothing but life. Really happy about where the band is musically. This version is beautiful and deep and passionate. Just something about the tone. And I’d take a “Character Zero” encore every night. But I like to Faceplant into ROKK! It is what geologists do. Enjoy your B-12 transfusion and safe travels back home.

See you for the last NYE run at MSG ever!!! Did I say that out loud? Shhhhhhphere.

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Comments

10/10 on the review. Yet another delicious show in one of the strongest tours in recent memory. Phish is BACK indeed. Couldn't agree more. Haven't been this into what the band has been doing since the late 90's... the evolution continues and its incredible to witness. See you at MSG.

good with the words ya are. particularly funny to this reviewer of your review was the bit about Farmhouse. "You really do like it. Your secret is safe with me." is just good comedy. i completely agree with feeling great about the state of the band right now. that's why i'll take the bait and ask: care to elaborate on that whole "last new years at msg tidbit?"

Spot on review. I was only there Fri and Sat. My main takeaways from this run in Vegas are these:
1. Phish has cemented itself as one of the great American rock-n-roll bands of all time. Yes I’m horribly biased, but honestly I don’t what other band now or ever has brought this honed listening and fury to the stage like this.

2. Trey moved, acted, and played like a dude who is similarly ready to cement his own place in guitar history. He is just a monster.

Overall, just a stellar couple of nights having my expectations exceeded. Again.

I was walking around at 3 AM getting ready to hike back over to our own hotel and there were fans just everywhere, people I recognize and even know in all the directions I look, and I’m like...... there is nothing like this in the world.

I go out onto the taxi/parking apron of the MGM and there is a pack of kidz with a boombox blasting what sounded like an SBD of maybe 2010 or 2011 phish, and they were all laying on the ground in front of a billion dollar building taking turns dancing and waving their Bluetooth boombox and I just stopped and stood there in the middle of them and closed my eyes and laughed and listened to the music and thanked them for doing what they were doing.

And I just couldn’t stop thinking we are so lucky, this is another golden age again, you cant make this up or imagine it at all, I love this and these people and the words run out, I wish it would never end.

I was walking around at 3 AM getting ready to hike back over to our own hotel and there were fans just everywhere, people I recognize and even know in all the directions I look, and I’m like...... there is nothing like this in the world.

I go out onto the taxi/parking apron of the MGM and there is a pack of kidz with a boombox blasting what sounded like an SBD of maybe 2010 or 2011 phish, and they were all laying on the ground in front of a billion dollar building taking turns dancing and waving their Bluetooth boombox and I just stopped and stood there in the middle of them and closed my eyes and laughed and listened to the music and thanked them for doing what they were doing.

And I just couldn’t stop thinking we are so lucky, this is another golden age again, you cant make this up or imagine it at all, I love this and these people and the words run out, I wish it would never end.

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